The Action of the Disaster Prevention Education in the Uekusa Gakuen Junior College（Part 8）:

本学では平成23年から繰り返される大災害にその都度被災地支援を行ってきた。平成26年度より体系化した教育プログラムを策定、実施し、４回の拠点的福祉避難所運営訓練を行い、マニュアルも作成した。今年度は２つの検証を行った。１つ目は教育プログラムの検証である。２つ目はより現実的な全学的に取り組む拠点的福祉避難所運営訓練の検証、検討を行った。departmental bulletin pape

Neural Correlates of Face and Object Perception in an Awake Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes) Examined by Scalp-Surface Event-Related Potentials

BACKGROUND: The neural system of our closest living relative, the chimpanzee, is a topic of increasing research interest. However, electrophysiological examinations of neural activity during visual processing in awake chimpanzees are currently lacking. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In the present report, skin-surface event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were measured while a fully awake chimpanzee observed photographs of faces and objects in two experiments. In Experiment 1, human faces and stimuli composed of scrambled face images were displayed. In Experiment 2, three types of pictures (faces, flowers, and cars) were presented. The waveforms evoked by face stimuli were distinguished from other stimulus types, as reflected by an enhanced early positivity appearing before 200 ms post stimulus, and an enhanced late negativity after 200 ms, around posterior and occipito-temporal sites. Face-sensitive activity was clearly observed in both experiments. However, in contrast to the robustly observed face-evoked N170 component in humans, we found that faces did not elicit a peak in the latency range of 150-200 ms in either experiment. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Although this pilot study examined a single subject and requires further examination, the observed scalp voltage patterns suggest that selective processing of faces in the chimpanzee brain can be detected by recording surface ERPs. In addition, this non-invasive method for examining an awake chimpanzee can be used to extend our knowledge of the characteristics of visual cognition in other primate species

Diphenylcarbene Protected by Four ortho-Iodine Groups: An Unusually Persistent Triplet Carbene

Diphenyldiazomethane with four iodine groups at the ortho positions and two tert-butyl groups at the para positions, i.e., bis(4-tert-butyl-2,6-diiodophenyl)diazomethane (1a-N2), was synthesized as a sterically hindered triplet carbene precursor. Irradiation of 1a-N2 in solution effectively generated the corresponding triplet diphenylcarbene 31a, which was characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy at low temperature, along with laser flash photolysis techniques at room temperature. The UV-vis spectrum of 31a was obtained by irradiating 1a-N2 in a 2-methyltetrahydrofuran matrix at 77 K. The ESR spectrum showed no triplet carbene signals, while a radical species was observed at the anticipated temperature of the decomposition of triplet carbene 31a. Transient absorption bands ascribable to 31a were observed by laser flash photolysis of 1a-N2 in a degassed benzene solution and decayed very slowly with a second-order rate constant (2k/εl) of 5.5 × 10−3·s−1. Steady-state irradiation of 1a-N2 in degassed benzene afforded 9,10-diarylphenanthrene derivative 2a in a 31% yield. Triplet carbene 31a was also trapped by either oxygen (kO2 = 6.5 × 105 M−1·s−1) or 1,4-cyclohexadiene (kCHD = 1.5 M−1·s−1) to afford the corresponding ketone 1a-O or the diarylmethane 1a-H2. The carbene was shown to be much less reactive than the triplet diphenylcarbene that is protected by two ortho-iodo and two ortho-bromo groups, 31b

The HOX complex neighbored by the EVX gene, as well as two other homeobox-containing genes, the GBX-class and the EN-class, are located on the same chromosomes 2 and 7 in humans

AbstractTwo newly identified human homeobox-containing genes, GBX1 and GBX2, are closely related genes, as are members of the other homeobox genes, EN-1 and EN-2. GBX1 and EN-2 have been mapped to chromosome 7q36. The present study shows that GBX2was mapped to chromosome 2q37. EN-1 was mapped to chromosome 2q14. Moreover, two HOX complexes neighbored by the EVX gene, HOXA and HOXD, are located at chromosome 7p15-p14 and 2q31-q37, respectively. Thus, it is possible that these homeobox genes were linked to each other on an ancestral genome and that the ancestral chromosome segment was duplicated during evolution

A case of offspring desertion by a female chimpanzee and the behavioral changes of the abandoned offspring

In the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania, a chimpanzee mother moved to a neighboring unit-group leaving her 5-year-old son behind in the original group. The mother remained in the new group for ten months and then after conceiving, returned to the original group. The mother and son were reunited again but the son died of illness two months later. The mother gave birth to a baby in the original group but eventually transferred to the neighboring group after that baby disappeared. This is the first record of an immature chimpanzee abandoned by its emigrating mother, although a similar phenomenon has been reported for gorillas and Hanuman langurs. The abandoned offspring followed an adult male of the unit-group and the male was the individual who gave most of the care to the offspring. The offspring\u27s time spent on grooming others increased, the time spent on being groomed decreased, and the rate of aggression toward him increased after his mother\u27s desertion. This report will occasion to reconsider the previous notion of all-powerful mother-offspring bond in chimpanzees